Thursday, February 10, 2011

Look at this, my blog has been all girly-foofy-pink-hearts all the time lately! But I assure you, I am not an impostor, the real Scrangie has not been abducted by the body snatchers and I don't have a head injury. I'm just in full-on holiday mode. And don't worry, there are only a few more pink heart-shaped things left to post... But these might be my favorite of all the heart-shaped things.

The minute I saw the first pictures of these, I HAD to have them. They're in shiny hot pink packages, they're covered in 3-d multicolored hearts, they claim to make you happy and they're SCENTED. I know... I might have been able to resist them for a little while if it wasn't for that last fact. Scented adorable shiny Valentine's themed makeup? Sold. I'll take 576.

I got four of the five or six items in the line.

Rose and natural Happy Booster Blush on top, light bronzer and translucent face powder on the bottom. The blushes are a slightly smaller size than the bronzer and face powder, but the compacts and designs look the same.

The back of the box describes all the benefits of this product. They all contain Happy Boost Blend which has something called Happy Skin and Euphoryl in it. They're supposed to mimic the effect of endorphins to give you a happy feeling... Interesting!

Now, there is one flaw with these items. It's superficial and not necessarily significant, but it is still a flaw!

You have to destroy the box to open it! I know that the boxes get thrown out right away, but if you're someone who likes to store things in their boxes, you won't really be able to easily do that with these. It's not really a big deal, but the next photo will demonstrate my annoyance:

The compacts are glued into the box! It's that sticky type of removable rubber cement, but it's strong enough to rip the labels off the back of the compact. It happened on all four of mine. Wasn't there a better way to secure the compacts in their boxes? Did they have to put the glue directly onto the label? Also, some of the glue gets stuck in the square vents on the back of the compact and you get little sticky glue squares inside the brush chamber.

I was able to peel my labels off of the glue and stick them back onto the compacts, but still, it seems like a packaging design oversight.

Luckily, there's not a thing wrong with the products themselves.

The compact is a shiny hot pink chrome. Once you open the lid, you can lift up the powder tray to reveal a mirror and a brush. It's a nice little touch. The brush is a little on the floppy and scratchy side, but I do think it applies the powder nicely for a sheer application.

And, it is rather cute. It's red and pink with a metallic pink chrome handle to match the compact. I wish it was a little stiffer and softer feeling because then it would be absolutely perfect! But it is usable for a quick wash of color, just like a fan brush.

All of the powders have the same style compact and brush.

This is the light bronzer. It's a combination of light and medium brown/tan with one light pink heart. It has both matte and shimmer hearts mixed together.

This is the Natural blush. It has light pink, peach-nude, rose, mauve and one darker pink near-red heart, also a combination of matte and shimmer.

This is the Rose blush. It has medium and dark pink, peachy pink, cocoa pink and one deep hot pink heart in matte and shimmer.

And the Translucent face powder. It has pink, peach, beige, cream and nude colors, mostly matte but with a hint of shimmer.

I tried swatching them on my arm , but they didn't really show up on camera. These are all sheer formulas. Which, for me, is good! While I do like a very pigmented blush or bronzer, you have to be really good at applying blush to use them, and I'm just not that good at it. The only thing that I can apply blush perfectly with are those flat Benefit brushes that come in the boxed powders. The brush for these is somewhat similar, but a lot more... limp?

Anyway, the sheer formula allows you to do just a light wash of color OR you can build them up for more color. It has a little shimmer to it, but you can easily buff that down if you're not into shimmery cheeks (like me). The colors were all very subtle and flattering on my pale cool skintone, so in addition to being cute they're actually useful. I have not used the translucent face powder other than swatching it, but on my arm it was just a sheer powder.

I do like everything about these, but my favorite-favorite feature might be the scent. They describe it as violet, but I smell more than violet. I can't quite pin down what it is exactly, but it smells to me like a very light, sweet candy floral. Not a sharp, perfumey, heavy, headachey floral like in some scented makeup. The scent in these is pretty and enjoyable, but it's not too strong. I don't smell it once it's on my face, but you get little hints of it while you're applying and it just sorta makes you smile :)

As for the claim that they improve your mood and make you happy? Well, scientifically, I have no idea. I have no clue if the compounds in this actually have some sort of chemical effect on my mood. But I can honestly say that they do make me happy. They make me happy just to look at. They're so pretty and shiny and colorful I can't help but smile when I use them. The scent gives me a little mood boost as well, I suppose it's a form of aromatherapy. So, I guess they do live up to their claim of boosting my happy! But then again, makeup in general makes me happy, so who knows. Either way, they do totally cheer me up.

They're a little pricey for a drugstore product, they range from $10-$13 depending on where you get them, but luckily they all have $3 off coupons on them. Even if they weren't $3 off, I'd still buy them because I just love them so much.

These might be one of my most favorite cosmetic products of all time. I love looking at them, using them, wearing them... The combination of cute, colorful 3-d heart powder with that pink chrome compact and the sweet sugared violet scent is just absolutely perfect to me. They're the happiest looking makeup items in my collection, for sure!

I, too, was suckered in by the multicolored hearts, the fact that they're scented, and that they claim to be "mood boosting". I was actually on the hunt for the Natural blush; Ulta didn't have it, but they did have the Rose blush, and I ended up LOVING it! They let me use the $3 coupon that was on the front of the package (I didn't know they took manufacturer coupons), plus I bought something along with it, so I was also able to use the $3.50 off $10 coupon, as well - not a bad deal! I might have to go on the hunt for the Translucent powder, the Natural blush, and the Light bronzer, gah!

I went to like 5 stores to find them in Chicago. I finally found one last blush. I had a coupon for $10 off Physician Formula from CVS which I used on them, then of course I got the $3 off as well, so I only paid like a $1.50 - but here is the thing - they had a special on where I got $7 voucher (CVS extra bucks) for buying this, so in the end, I got it for free!That definitely boosted my mood!

I just got the Translucent one too and it's FAB! I'm very pale and it's the perfect every day highlighter for me. I do find it to be somewhat shimmery, but in that nice glowy way vs. a glittery mess kinda way. It smells good, and it looks good, so that DOES make me happy!

Wow, you REALLY like these! You wrote like 3 posts about them! It really makes me WANT to love them too, but I don't know, I just can't. I agree that they're very cute, adorable, but they don't strongly appeal to me. :( Maybe if I saw them in real life it would be different. I'll try to check them out! Thank you so much for the review! I do wish you had some swatches to show... :/

I have the translucent powder and at first i thought it was awfully sheer, but it builds up into a nice highlighting powder for my temples and cheeks. I find that it gives just the right amount of a pink glow, and it wasn't until I "broke in" the compact that it started to be more apparent. This is super cute though and I'm going to have to buy the blush now!

I bought the transluscent powder one and I love it! It's got the slight shimmer that I use as a highlighter on my cheeks and it has the one pink heart that you can use for a blush. And I love the scent too! Usually anything even slightly floral is nauseating to me but I love this one. And the look of it is maybe the best thing about it. Gonna have to get the blush too! I highly recommend these too! :)

I have the translucent powder and I love it. I swipe it, avoiding the pink heart, to use as a highlighter which I feel gives just the right amount of "glow". I then swipe over the bright pink heart to use on my cheeks for a very nice natural flushed cheek. I love it so much I bought a back up. I actually think this is in the permanent line. Ulta had them on a special display but they also have them in the Physician's Formula section too. Walmart has them in their regular section as well.

I never used much of Physician's Formula products, but I was impressed. I went back out and bought their new cashmere wear bronzer and I'm loving that as well. Having a knit cable theme helps me love them since I'm a knitter!

Holy crap these are cute. lol. I'm not huge into makeup, since I rarely wear it, but I might have to go find the rose blush and translucent powder. I LOVE Physicians Formula, since they make cosmetics for pale ladies with sensitive skin, such as myself.

I got both the blushes, they are awesome. If you guys don't have at least one, go fix that right away!

Also, I'm so glad to hear you had an issue with the packaging as well; I was wondering if I was the only one, as I haven't seen it mentioned ANYWHERE. I wonder what the reasoning behind putting all that glue ON the label was?

YAY! I found two of the three that I want - I got the Translucent Face Powder and the Rose Blush. Still hunting the Natural Blush. I must have it! Thank you so much for posting about these. They are an absolute delight! :D

I'm not sure which will suit you better since I haven't seen your actual skin, so I can only make a guess.. but if you are very fair, go with the translucent. If you're more medium and warm, get the beige because the translucent has some shimmer that might look too light or frosty on a deeper skintone.